Ok I need help. The tuning slide is frozen solid. Thats it I need to send this head to someone. I am not going to take a chance on distroying this flute. Please does anyone know of anyone who can repair my flute. Just the head. I wounder if David does that sort of thing. If anyone has had to have work done on a flute and you were satisfied with the results I would like to know who did the work. I need the tuning slide dealt with and the 2 cracks re done. I know there is no one around here or at least I don`t think there is, so this is a plea…
Seized head joints seem to be a big problem .I have a boxwood Potter which has a seized slide which I can’t do anything with .I am advised that steam through the headjoint and brute strength can sometimes do it .If anybody has any ideas it could help both of us .
You gota love McGee. Thanks for the link Glauber it was a good read. Makes me think about giving it another try. I guess the worst that could happen is that I will have to have another head made.
I was kinda hoping that David Migoya might read this post and have something to say. I`ll just wait a while before I tear into this thing to see if he chimes in. It is a wied set up though as I can turn the barrel quite easily, which is why I am leaking air in the head. And you would think that if the slide housing is turning that easily in the barrel(short tuning slide housing that is) that a person should be able to remove the whole thing. Alas, not. But at least now I aint afraid of it. Take care
OK - the site has gone evil…I’m reposting because the original just disappeared!
This is probably a dumb suggestion, but wouldn’t a small amount of WD 40 applied with the convenient nozzle thingy work wonders? You could wipe it off really quick afterwards? We all know the stuff does wonders with corroded/gunked up metal parts.
IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER - I’ve never tried this…it could be a way bad idea.
I dont know about the WD-40 Eric. It somehow seems to go against the grane if you know what I mean. But I wont rule it out.
As far as the Lehart goes I got a letter from him yesterday saying he sent the flute the same time he sent the letter so I figure tomorrow or Saterday. But no I will not hang up the old flute. I already am in love with it and it is old and has an old sound and all that, plus it has keys. In fact I ordered a humidor a couple of days ago to keep all 3 of my wooden flutes in and have some control over humidity and temp and whatnot. They are my treasures as I am sure the Lehart will be and I can`t see not playing them all from time to time.
What about a citrus-based penetrating oil? I can’t think of a particular name right now, but that might be an excellent choice. It will still be somewhat toxic, because there are other solvents in the formulation, but you aren’t going to drink the stuff, anyway.
I used to live in Florida, and we would get d-limonene(the active ingredient in all citrus cleaners, etc) from the citrus plants. At the time, they had little market for the stuff, and would give it away. That stuff was a super-penetrant. I used it on everything metal that was stuck, and it worked like WD-40 only wished it would. If you managed to get some of that, you could unstick the slide most probably, if you could find a place to squeeze it in. It might be a good bet.
Well I never heard of that stuff Rondo so the search is on. I put the flute together today after 3 days of oiling and my god what a nice flute. It is a for sure keeper. It is so easy to play and has real good volume and well anyway its a keeper. Had to put it away though as the mail woman brought me the sweatest old Olwell bamboo flute in F…
